Christmas Related Injuries

Christmas Can Be Dangerous.

What, are you kidding? No it really is a busy time at A&E. In the US there were on average 17 hospital visits each year in 100 hospitals surveyed. That doesn’t include those people who didn’t bother to go or sought help somewhere else such as the Chiropractic or Osteopathic clinic.

I clearly remember the Christmas I got my first pen-knife. To test how sharp it was I ran my thumb along the direction of the blade instead of running my thumb across it. Well those Swiss know how to make blades. It was immediately confiscated and I didn’t get it back for a couple of years!

Christmas really can be a dangerous time. So here’s a breakdown of the types of injury, when they occurred, the ages of the injured.

Obviously the peak day was Christmas day and that was due to the big increase in scissor related injuries. Probably as the sherry had been opened a little while earlier. So go easy on the Sellotape to protect the ones you love.

The biggest injury cause was decoration related, with a few keen beans getting them up in early November.

Careful though, the peak of Xmas tree related injuries comes in the next two weeks.

If we look at breakdown of ages there is a big spike at 0-5 years old as the excitement all gets too much and the little ones run into the stocking hooks or poke their eyes on the tree branches. The rest of injuries were spread fairly evenly through the parental 25-55 years. The older wiser age group must have stayed seated out of the way.

Atlas.com

Types of injury of injury varied considerably, but I clearly read the textbook as lacerations were number one. That was closely followed by strains and sprains, contusions and fractures. If you bunch the last 3 injury types together those groups make up over half the injuries.

Atlas.com

So be careful out there and if you do get hurt give us a call so that our Chiropractors can give you advice. In the meantime have fun and enjoy the time together.